In China, “The Great Leap Forward” began in 1958 before ending disastrously in 1961. In the baseball card world, it began in earnest in 1993 and is showing no signs of stopping. With Donruss’ then “premium” quality 1984 set, the race was on to provide an improving product. Donruss would regress a bit, but then things escalated with Score entering the fray in 1988 with the first set with a full-color back photo, and finally reaching its first head in 1989 with Upper Deck’s emergence as the beyond-premium set. No one could More >

1964 was the start of the “Hey wait, we’re the only company left, so we can crank out bland sets and the people will STILL buy them” phase of Topps baseball cards. Besides, who has time for baseball cards when Topps has to be there to cover the Beatles’ arrival in America and put them on cards?

Yep, it kinda started going downhill from here for a while.

Yes, 1964. The Beatles arrived in America. Finally, a musical group that it was okay for everyone to like! The girls loved how cute Paul was. The boys could More >

I survived. Of the previous three weeks or so, I’ve been on the road for two of them. The last trip was to Portland, OR for my mom’s wedding. And now I’m back home. Special shoutout and props to Hoopla Sports Card Outlet, Baseball Cards and More, and Heaven Sent Sports Cards. It’s been about five years since I was last in a card store, and I found a good chunk of what I’m looking for in those three stores up there.

And now, I should be able to provide more regular offerings of the countdown as More >

Good news: I survived the trip to and from Washington and only had to drive the U-Haul for 2 hours from Baker City, OR to Wilder, ID. I managed to force a semi onto the shoulder at one point and it was decided that perhaps driving large trucks is not my forte. Next stop: Portland, OR for a week, this time flying. I hope to post a few more articles in that time, but am not counting on it.

So I’m in Washington right now as I post this (months after writing it). Wenatchee, central part of the state. I’ve been in a truck for roughly 32 of the past 63 hours, making my way from Texas on through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon on through to Washington with a co-worker, my boss, and one of his sons. I only had to drive about 2 hours or so of the 32 hour trip which came earlier today, but in that two hours was a six-mile stretch through the mountains of Eastern Oregon More >

On April 23, 1994, the Painesville Little League season opened and I began my second year of organized baseball. It was my tenth birthday, and I was the leadoff hitter and starting catcher for the Kent Marks Home Improvement Pirates (long story on the team change between 1994 and 1995, don’t ask). I went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts as we got no-hit by the Malkamaki Builders Browns in a 10-0 mercy rule decision, but I didn’t care. It was my birthday, it was my first game behind the plate, and I wasn’t going to let what More >